


Hospital Flowers

by atomtom



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Canon, Tales from the Borderlands, gayperion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 12:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12132387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atomtom/pseuds/atomtom
Summary: Rhys gets his cybernetic implants done after him and Vaughn strike the eridium mining deal.  Vaughn and Yvette find out only after he's in post-op recovery.





	Hospital Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually one of the first things I made for this ship. Going back and editing it to be longer it was really fun to see how my writing's changed :D

Where was he again? Rhy looked blearily down at his right arm...well, what was left of it at least. That’s right, the thought, he was in the hospital ward. Rhys had been a patient for almost a week and it still took him for a spin whenever he woke up to the sterile white walls and the smell of bleach.

A sudden tap on the window made him jolt- usually the doctors made sure it was quiet for their patients. He glanced up with his one good eye and immediately regretted it. Through the tiny rectangular glass pane he was greeted with Vaughn’s face scrambling around to get a good look at him. Rhys panicked as he heard his best friend twisting the doorknob; he wished he could die rather than have Vaughn see him in this state.

It didn't exactly help his case that he had gone and gotten his cybernetics operation done on essentially a whim. He hadn't told anyone what he was doing, and why would he? They would stop him cold in his tracks. But being confronted now with the thought of having to explain face to face with Vaughn why he was missing vital appendages- it started to flush his face bright red.

Vaughn stood in the doorway and... oh god Rhys thought he’s just standing there. The dread started to set in. Was Vaughn judging him? Would he be upset?

"I...Vaughn I...please..." the improvisation that usually came so easily to Rhys failed him now. All he could choke out was a quiet "I'm sorry."

Vaughn walked up to the cot he was lying on and took up a nearby chair. Rhys averted his gaze.

"Sorry? Why would you be sorry?" he cocked his head to the side looking concerned.

"You're not mad about...this?" Rhys gestured to his general upper body.

"What? No man, I was just worried when you didn't show up for work the whole week," he smiled meekly and gently rested his hand on Rhys's bandaged right shoulder, "Plus cybernetics are sweet dude. How can I be pissed over an awesome robot arm?"

A relieved grin creeped onto Rhys’s face, "I guess so." 

"Just give me a little heads up next time, okay? You had me and Yvette scared for a while."

Oh yeah, Yvette. Rhys winced a bit.

"She's not going to like this is she?"

"She already doesn’t like it," Vaughn laughed and Rhys found he couldn't help but to join."So when do you get out?"

"In a couple more days...they still need to fit the arm. I think I can take this off today though," he pointed to the gauze patch over his left eye. 

"Holy shit. Can I...?" Vaughn stopped himself short of touching Rhys's face. He was bouncing with excitement. 

"Sure. Just, don’t rip ‘em off too hard I have enough going on." 

“Okay,” Vaughn took a deep breath.

He slowly peeled the bandage back. Rhys smiled at how meticulous Vaughn was, it was like how he was with everything. He was being particularly careful not to inflict any pain. Rhys felt like he didn't deserve a friend this good. 

"It doesn't look weird, does it?"

"...It's perfect." Vaughn's fingers gently circled the bright blue implant. 

He couldn't hold it back any more, Rhys grinned ear to ear as tears welled up in his eyes. Vaughn diligently balled up his sleeve in his hand and wiped them away.

“Whoa, whoa why are you crying?” his smile was sympathetic and he reached over so he could hold Rhys’s hand, “You look so cool!”

“I know just,” Rhys didn’t know if he had really made this up to be a big deal in his head or if it was the pain medication being pumped into him that was making him a little loopy, but a flood of emotion was overcoming him, “I really thought you’d be more upset about this whole thing.”

“You look upset about it,” Vaughn quipped.

“Shhh,” Rhys rolled his eyes as he laughed and threw his head back on the pillow.

“Look, I got something that I think will cheer you up, but I left it outside ‘cause I wanted to surprise you,” he got up and stepped out the door before popping his head back in. “Don’t go anywhere.” He went to retrieve the thing with a sly smirk on his face.

“Shut up,” Rhys shook his head, enjoying how ridiculous this all was.

When Vaughn reentered the room gingerly held between his hands was a bouquet of a dozen roses. The sight of them made Rhys’s heart flutter and skip a beat. Vaughn walked up to his friend and carefully tucked the flowers next to his chest on the bed.

“Stooooooop,” Rhys whined. This was too sweet he found himself gushing even more tears.  
“ Oh god, this just made it worse didn’t it?” Vaughn grabbed him a box of tissues while he was up and handed them over.

“You can’t just do this to me,” Rhys sniffled, “I have a reputation to uphold now.”

“And who was it that helped you get where you are?” Vaughn took on a mock serious tone.

Rhys burst out laughing, “But really, this is great. You’re great.”

“Well, I can’t take all the credit,” Vaughn sat down and folded his arms over the bed siding, resting his head on them, “Yvette pitched in for half of it after I convinced her.” He glanced off to the side, “Also you should put those in some water and enjoy them while they last. Shipping anything off-world is not cheap.”

“For sure…” Rhys crossed his arm over his body and tugged Vaughn’s fingers open, letting their hands tangle, “Thanks for being here for me.”


End file.
